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Pakistan
History Muslim League, in full cooperation with the British occupiers from 1942, granted control over the Muslim-majority provinces of the British Raj in 1946 to combat the influence of the banned Indian National Congress. Popular support for the Muslim League was regarded as a mandate for the creation of a separate state for India's Muslims, known as Pakistan. The name Pakistan has a double meaning: in Urdu and Persian it means 'Pure Land', while also acting as an acronym for the Punjabis, Afghans, Kashmiris, Sindhis and Balochistanis. The first two groups are especially dominant: Punjabis in business and government, Afghans (more properly Pashtuns) in the military. The Bengalis, culturally, politically and geographically far from the centre of Pakistan, are not mentioned in the acronym. In 1947 a partially autonomous federal Pakistan State was created, with Muhammed Ali Jinnah serving as premier. Hindus were immediately driven in huge numbers from Pakistan, which prompted similar expulsions of Muslims from Hindu-majority provinces. Resistance to federation came first from the Khanate of Kalat. In 1947, Mir Ahmedyar Khan was overthrown by his younger brother, Mir Karim Khan, who resisted federation into Pakistan as an attack on the feudal priveleges he enjoyed. He advocated Kalat forming the nucleus of an independent Greater Balochistan. In order to secure his support, the Chief Commissioner's Province of Baluchistan was annexed to Kalat, and the Khan became both Premier of the Baluchistan States Union and the first Vice-Premier of Pakistan. When the remainder of India achieved full Dominion status in 1957, the two countries almost immediately went to war over the issue of the Princely States, specifically Kashmir and Hyderabad. Kashmir had a Muslim majority, but a Hindu prince, and so had opted to join India. In Hyderabad, the situation was reversed. Each nation decided to use military force to enforce its claim. Hyderabad, located in the centre of India, fell fairly quickly, though bloodily. The war in Kashmir lasted far longer and was bloodier still. At the end of the war, Kashmir was partitioned, though not before the government of Pakistan had collapsed, with the military assuming power. The coup of October 1958 brought Field Marshall Muhammad Ayub Khan to power. Even before this, substantial power lay with the military, dominated by the Aryan Martial Race of Pashtuns. Malik Ghulam Muhammad, himself a Pashtun, had inaugurated an autocratic style of government that relied heavily on the Pakistan State military. Muhammad Ayub Khan had been the most senior native commander in the Indian and later Pakistan State army and the first commander of independent Pakistan's armed forces. His deputy and successor, Yahya Khan was also of Persian origin, as were most of the senior figures of the military, such as Fazle Haq, Rahimuddin Khan and Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi. The most significant non-Pashtun military leader is Zia-ul-Haq, a Punjabi. The dominance of the Pashtuns and Punjabis was resented by many Pakistanis, especially in Balochistan and East Pakistan. The Bengalis of East Pakistan are considered to be racially inferior, and partially Hinduised, compared to West Pakistanis in general and Pashtuns in particular. In East Pakistan, the regime relied on the support of Jamaat-e-Islami, the party of Abul Ala Maududi which is committed to maintaining the unity of Pakistan under an Islamic constitution (Chaudry Muhammad Ali, who drafted the Pakistani constitution of 1956 was a supporter of Maududi). In 1971 a Bengali uprising was surpressed at the cost of many lives. As a result, president Yahya Khan decided to fully integrate Jamaa-e-Islami into his government under Ghulam Azam, Maududi's sucessor as the movement's Ameer. Subdivisions of Pakistan *Punjab: formerly West Punjab Province, home of the economically and politically dominant Punjabis. Punjabis form the largest single ethnic group in Western Pakistan, and the second largest group overall. *Pukhtunistan: formerly known as the North West Frontier Province and East Afghanistan, home of the Pashtuns, dominant in the military. Pashtuns are the third largest single group in Pakistan, and are considered to be the most racially healthy by Germany and Great Britain. Led by General Fazle Haq from 1977. *Azad Kashmir: made up of parts of the former Princely State of Kashmir plus parts of the Gilgit Agency. Home to a variety of peoples, including many Indo-Aryan Dardic tribes. *Sindh: formerly Sindh Province, home to the former capital region of Karachi, birthplace of Jinnah. The Sindhis are very influenced by the neighbouring Balochs. *Baluchistan: formerly known as East Baluchistan and the Baluchistan States Union, formed by the union of the Chief Commissioner's Provinces of Baluchistan and the Princely States of Kalat, Kharan and Makran, minus the Enclave of Gwadar (part of Oman under the protection of Great Britain within the Trucial States). The Bolchs are considered to be of a racially healthy, Iranian type by Germany. Led by the Khan of Kalat, with substantial power in the hands of the influential Marri tribe. *East Bengal: the main division of East Pakistan. The Bengalis are not highly regarded racially, either by the peoples of West Pakistan, by Germany or by the old colonial master Great Britain. They are seen as culturally partially Hinduised and racially influenced by Mongoloid peoples of the East and by Dravidian Negroid peoples from the South. Led by Ghulam Azam, Ameer of Jamaa-e-Islami, from 1971. *North Arakan: the smaller part of East Pakistan, home of the Rohingya people. The Rohingya are still less highly regarded ethnically than the Bengalis, being intermediate between Bengalis and Eastern Mongoloid peoples. *Karachi District: capital region to 1966. Karachi was the birthplace of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founding father of Pakistan. *Islamabad District: capital region from 1966. Constructed specially to act as a new national capital, located near the border of the Punjab and Pukhtunistan. *Maldvies: annexed to Pakistan in 1966. Maldivians are an Indo-Aryan people, similar to the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka. Led by the Sultan of the Huraa Dynasty, currently Sultan Ibrahim Fareed Didi. *Chitral: ethnically diverse, with a variety of Indo-Aryan Dardic tribes including the Kalash. Led by the Mehtar of the Katur Dynasty, currently Mehtar Muhammad Saif ul-Mulk Nasir, married to the daughter of the Nawab of Amb. *Amb: ethnically Pashtun. Led by the Nawab, currently Nawabzada Salahuddin Saeed Khan. Annexed Phulra at independence. *Swar: ethnically Pashtun, with some admixture from Indo-Aryan Dardic tribes. Led by the Wali, currently Wali Miangul Jahan Zeb. *Dir: ethnically Pashtun. Led by the Nawab, currently Nawab Muhammad Shah Khosru Khan. *Bahawalpur: ethnically Punjabi . Led by the Nawab, currently Haji Muhammad Abbas Khan Abbasi Bahadur. *Khairpur: ethnically Sindhi. Led by the Amir, currently Mir George Ali Murad Khan II. *Las Bela: ethnically Sindhi. Led by the Jam Sahib, currently Jam Ghulam Qadir Khan.